in the Quran that speak of touching women, physical contact with them, intimate relations with them, and the like do not encompass contact entirely devoid of sexual desire. Muslims have not disputed any of this except in the case of the verse on ablution, and that dispute arose only later. Thus, what they unanimously agreed upon must govern the matter disputed by their later generations.

As for analogical reasoning, Allah has attached no legal ruling to mere touching. He has neither made it entail any obligation nor forbidden it during any act of worship—whether devotional retreat, consecration for pilgrimage, prayer, fasting, or anything else. Nor has He made it establish marriage prohibitions arising from affinity or any other legal consequence. Rather, in Islamic law, it is like touching a woman through her clothing and other forms of contact that Allah has not made grounds for imposing any obligation or prohibition.

That being so, requiring ablution on account of such contact contradicts the established principles of Islamic law and what has been transmitted from the Companions. It is a position unsupported by either the Book or the Sunnah; indeed, what is known from the Sunnah contradicts it. This position is even weaker than that of those who regard semen as impure, for the view that semen is impure is itself weak. For if the Prophet did not command anyone to wash semen from his body or clothing, despite how frequently people were affected by this during his lifetime—yet commanded a menstruating woman to wash blood from her clothing, although this occurred far less frequently than semen soiling men—then, had such washing been obligatory, he would have made that clear. Rather, he would wash or wipe it off because he found it unpleasant,